miss
verb (used with object)
to fail to hit or strike.
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to miss.
miss
1 American
[mis]
/ mɪs /
verb (used with object)
-
misses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
missed,
past participle, past
-
missing
present participle
-
to fail to hit or strike.
to miss a target.
-
to fail to encounter, meet, catch, etc..
to miss a train.
-
to fail to take advantage of.
to miss a chance.
-
to fail to be present at or for.
to miss a day of school.
-
to notice the absence or loss of.
When did you first miss your wallet?
-
to regret the absence or loss of.
I miss you all dreadfully.
-
to escape or avoid.
He just missed being caught.
-
to fail to perceive or understand.
to miss the point of a remark.
verb (used without object)
-
misses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
missed,
past participle, past
-
missing
present participle
-
to fail to hit something.
-
to fail of effect or success; be unsuccessful.
noun
-
a failure to hit something.
-
a failure of any kind.
-
an omission.
-
a misfire.
verb phrase
-
miss out on to fail to take advantage of, experience, etc..
You missed out on a great opportunity.
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miss out to omit; leave out.
idioms
miss
2
American
[mis]
/ mɪs /
noun
-
misses
plural
-
(initial capital letter) a title of respect for an unmarried woman, conventionally prefixed to her name or to the name of that which she represents.
Miss Mary Jones; Miss Sweden.
-
(used by itself, as a term of address, especially to a young woman).
Miss, please bring me some ketchup.
-
(initial capital letter) a title prefixed to a mock surname used to represent a particular attribute of the person, especially one excessively prominent.
Miss Innocent; Miss Congeniality.
-
a young unmarried woman; girl.
a radiant miss of 18 or so.
-
misses,
-
a range of sizes, chiefly from 6 to 20, for garments that fit women of average height and build.
-
the department or section of a store where these garments are sold.
-
a garment in this size range.
-
miss.
3
American
abbreviation
-
mission.
-
missionary.
Miss.
4
American
abbreviation
miss
1
British
/ mɪs /
verb
-
to fail to reach, hit, meet, find, or attain (some specified or implied aim, goal, target, etc)
-
(tr) to fail to attend or be present for
to miss a train
to miss an appointment
-
(tr) to fail to see, hear, understand, or perceive
to miss a point
-
(tr) to lose, overlook, or fail to take advantage of
to miss an opportunity
-
(tr) to leave out; omit
to miss an entry in a list
-
(tr) to discover or regret the loss or absence of
he missed his watch
she missed him
-
(tr) to escape or avoid (something, esp a danger), usually narrowly
he missed death by inches
-
to lose an opportunity
noun
-
a failure to reach, hit, meet, find, etc
-
informal to avoid (something)
give the lecture a miss
give the pudding a miss
Miss.
2
British
abbreviation
Miss
3
British
/ mɪs /
noun
miss
4
British
/ mɪs /
noun
miss
More Idioms
Usage
What is a basic definition of miss? Miss means to fail to hit something, to fail to meet something, or to feel sadness over the absence or loss of something. The word miss has several other senses as a verb and a noun. To miss something is to fail to hit or strike something, as with an arrow missing a target. If a runaway vehicle misses a stop sign, then it doesn’t smash into it.
- Real-life examples: If you throw a basketball to your friend and they don’t catch it, the ball misses. When a baseball player misses a baseball with their bat, they try to hit the ball with the bat but fail to. A bowling ball that doesn’t knock down any pins has missed them.
- Used in a sentence: Luckily, the falling tree branch missed me by a few inches and landed on the ground instead of on my head.
- Used in a sentence: All of his attempts to throw the basketball into the hoop were misses.
- Real-life examples: If you are late meeting up with a friend, they might leave and you’ll miss them. If you take too long to get to the bus stop, the bus will leave without you and you’ll miss it.
- Used in a sentence: She missed the morning train and had to wait until the next one came.
- Real-life examples: Parents often miss their children after they move out of the house. Everybody misses loved ones who have died. A person may miss a favorite food that is no longer being made.
- Used in a sentence: The freezing man missed the heat of Florida.
Gender
See Ms.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misssimple
-
missessimple
-
have missedperfect
-
has missedperfect
-
am missingprogressive
-
are missingprogressive
-
is missingprogressive
-
have been missingperfect progressive
-
has been missingperfect progressive
Past
-
missedsimple
-
had missedperfect
-
was missingprogressive
-
were missingprogressive
-
had been missingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of miss1
First recorded before 900; Middle English missen, mis(e), Old English missan; cognate with Old Frisian missa, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Old High German missen, Old Norse missa “to fail to hit or reach”
Origin of miss2
First recorded in 1600–10; short for mistress
Explanation
To miss is to fail to do or sense something, or to be without. If you miss all your free throws, your basketball team probably won't miss you if you skip a game. The verb form of miss stems from the Old English missan “fail to hit what was aimed at,” while the noun form of miss, meaning a term of honor to a young woman is just the abbreviated form of mistress, which used to be a title of respect. You might not miss the days when every unmarried woman had to be called "Miss."
Vocabulary lists containing miss
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"In Response to Executive Order 9066"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The overall energy of the trip and the relationships strengthened by shared experience are worth much more than the nickels and dimes you won’t miss in the long run.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Don’t miss: ‘We fear financial exploitation’: Who will manage our finances if my wife and I become incapacitated?
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Dean Henderson, Jordan Henderson, Reece James, Djed Spence and John Stones, who were all in the World Cup squad, miss out, with Tuchel saying they were not selected because of injuries.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
A left knee injury caused him to miss six weeks early in the season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
“Look me up and I’ll see that you don’t miss anything.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
“There’s always something you miss. Man, I love practice, you know what I’m saying? I bring the juice during practice.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
“But if you get hit with a hurricane and an asteroid in the same period, we’ll miss. And that’s OK.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
"The banter is the big thing that I miss. When I arrived, one guy said 'hey, you look just like Ross King off the TV - no offence'. I miss the banter."
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2025
“But at the same time, there’s a lot of things I think we’re going to miss. Richard offered the Latino community political power that it never had.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2024
“A true coachman never says where he’s been, miss. Or tells where he’s going.”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Profit in the recent quarter was dented by a $16 million non-cash asset impairment charge related to the company’s decision to relocate its planned second satellite aluminum recycled slab center to Columbus, Miss. from Arizona.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
The cases against Proper, 19, remains ongoing, as do the cases against the two other alleged co-conspirators: Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Miss., and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31, of Omaha.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
That includes Hawthorne, Calif., Bastrop and McGregor in Texas, Memphis, Tenn., and Southaven, Miss. Its workers—including hourly blue-collar workers—receive stock options, which has allowed them to share in the company’s success.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Preston Arrington began renting land from his father in Sunflower County, Miss., a quarter-century ago to grow cotton and grains — becoming the fourth generation of his family to choose a career in the fields.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026
“Excuse me, Miss. Have you seen my granddaughter, Mattie? She must be around here somewhere. Filthy little urchin, she is, wearing a grimy dress and a ragged cap.”
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
The game changed in the second quarter, when Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy was knocked out by a shoulder injury.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Fearing that Kiffin would poach his old roster, Ole Miss donors ponied up tens of millions of dollars to retain their stars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Ten months after abandoning Ole Miss to coach LSU, Lane Kiffin had returned to Oxford to deal his former employer one more indignity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Lacy’s absence meant Ole Miss had no choice but to run their attack through Chambliss on nearly every single snap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Miss Buckner gestured toward each department as she reeled off the names.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
But it might also be dinner for an exhausted parent who wants twenty minutes back and misses what the inside of a restaurant tastes like.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
Victoria Olaofe, 24, from Bermondsey, works as a sales representative near St Paul's, and she says that her poor mobile service means she misses out on pay.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
And they aren’t shy about sharing their opinions, whether something looks great or misses the mark.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Looking only at agreement and disagreement, however, misses an important part of the story.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 9, 2026
He misses his family terribly, so terribly he aches.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Beatty has only missed one hearing in her court case since it began in December.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Noah Woods' family said he was "the sweetest and most innocent little boy" who will be "missed forever"
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Can the Dodgers trust the 6-foot-8 right-hander who missed three months because of back spasms?
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
“They missed the shift to the cloud and now they are trying to make up for lost time by claiming relevance in AI.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 19, 2026
She’d missed the third reader by a hair and blamed Tansy.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
However, that decision was catastrophically undermined by incorrect information, missing records and an extraordinary refusal to reconsider it when the court provided an opportunity to do so.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Finally, in 2025, he got tired of missing out.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
By changing which genes cells expressed and then testing whether AnWj appeared, the scientists could build a much stronger case that MAL was the missing piece.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
In fact, the diesel blocked in the Persian Gulf is around three times as large as supplies missing from Russia compared with before the Iran war, according to data compiled by the International Energy Agency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Chip dived out through the small space, barely missing landing in a holly bush.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
